Archive for February, 2009

Feb200925

So, I should really have posted this a lot earlier than now. Sorry everyone. Graham posting again finally guilted me into posting.

ps. this is going to be long.

Anyways, things have changed since I last put up a DM Log; mainly that after we finished Rescue at Rivenroar, Graham took back the helm. He is now DMing, and I am back to playing.

The decision was made for 2 reasons: first, I was running into some mental blocks in trying to run a pre-written adventure. I write, so the main draw of DMing for me is, and always has been, the world-building and plotting aspects. I found that working with someone else’s story was sapping my creativity, both in-game and in my other endeavours. Long story short, my writing was suffering (ie. not happening at all), so I decided to drop the DMing to concentrate on the rest.

I do hope to DM again in the future. I found 4e was so much easier to work with mechanics-wise. Once we’ve had more experience with this edition, I want to run my own stories. For now, it falls to Graham to lead us.

Feb200923

So, through Phil, I was pointed to an article on the “Ages of D&D” by James at Grognardia.

My comment got far too long, so I turned it into a blog post.

First off, I think it’s pretty apt that he uses many of the same terms used to describe comic book eras. Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age.

It can easily be argued that Golden Age comics were, perhaps, more pure, more original, and probably a bit more naive. But it’s nearly impossible to argue that it (or Silver, Bronze, whatever) was objectively better than any other age.

I find that fitting.

And did anyone else notice that, if you extend past the Dark Ages era (late 2e, according to James) to 3e, historically you would hit the Renaissance?

I find this apt, too. See, the renaissance was a time of cultural change, after all. Things got better (than the Dark Ages, debatable for previous ages), particularly from a cultural viewpoint, but culture and society changed drastically. While they resemble the previous ages much more than the Dark Ages, they were still very, very different.

Again, seems fitting.

The Reformation fits well for 3.5e.

Age of Discovery/Exploration (which overlapped the Renaissance) can be used for the era following the Eberron campaign setting, as WotC explores new mechanics and options (Tome of Magic/Battle for big examples, and the Eberron setting itself), braving new waters with some drastic changes from what has come before.

And to continue the trend, 4e corresponds fairly well to the Age of Reason/Enlightenment. During this age, much of philosophy moved towards a mathematical and deductive basis. This didn’t sit right with some people, who demanded empirical evidence, and debates on which philosophy was “correct” raged. (Pathfinder could be seen as the empiricist movement, perhaps.) 4e, as well, moved away from empiricism (simulation) towards mathematically balanced gameplay.